U.S. No. 2005/0070756A1 discloses, as an infant care apparatus, an open type incubator serving also as a closed type incubator (to be referred to as “the infant care apparatus according to the patent reference” hereinafter), which includes an infant mat which is substantially rectangular when seen from the top and on which an infant is to be laid, and a heater which can radiate heat rays to the upper surface of the mat, and wherein the heat rays are radiated from the heat radiation opening of the heater to the upper surface of the infant mat. In this infant care apparatus according to the patent reference, the heater is fixed obliquely above the infant mat and cannot move up and down. In contrast to this, the top hood is configured to move up and down relative to the infant mat. The top hood includes an opening for the passage of heat rays and a pair of left and right doors which can open and close the opening for the passage of heat rays. When the infant care apparatus shifts from the closed type state to the open type state, the top hood moves up to make the heater relatively come into contact with the pair of left and right doors. This makes the pair of left and right doors pivot forward and downward to open. The heat rays radiated outward from the heat radiation opening of the heater pass through the heat ray passage opening of the top hood and radiate the upper surface of the infant mat.
In the infant care apparatus according to the patent reference, which is configured in the above manner, the heater relatively comes into contact with the pair of left and right doors of the top hood to push open the pair of left and right doors downward. For this reason, an infant lying on the upper surface of the mat or people surrounding the infant care apparatus have feelings that rough operation is performed above the mat. This is undesirable for the infant and the surrounding people in terms of mental health. In addition, since the heater radiates heat rays while it is located inside the top hood, heat tends to stay inside the top hood. For this reason, when the infant care apparatus is to be switched to the closed type state and used while it is used in the open type state, the infant lying on the upper surface of the mat may be overheated, even if temporarily, by the heat staying inside the top hood and the remaining heat of the heater. Furthermore, since the heater is always located at a high position, when moving the infant care apparatus in the closed type state inside a hospital or the like, the operator needs to take the greatest care to prevent the heater from hitting or hooking on something. Moreover, since the swing of the heater located at a high position is amplified during such movement, the overall infant care apparatus may unstably swing. This swing is therefore transferred as an uncomfortable swing to the infant lying on the upper surface of the mat.